1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an essence extractor for comminuting of foodstuffs for the extraction of edible and aromatic oils and, more particularly, to a portable essence extractor in combination with a liquid container for the direct blending of freshly extracted edible and aromatic oils and such.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hand-held kitchen tools for the comminuting of foodstuffs and the like are well known in the art. Examples include tools for the grinding or mincing of nuts or garlic for use as a component in food preparation. Such devices generally employed squeeze-type implements wherein, through the manipulation of a pair of hinged arms, a plunger engages within a chamber with a perforated bottom to progressively crush a chamber-received clove with the particle and liquid effluent discharging through the perforated bottom of the chamber. In most instances, a major portion of the clove or cloves will remain within the chamber as a pulverized mass which will normally be discarded.
A search of the prior art discovers various other mincing or comminuting devices. While a search did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention; however, the following references were considered related.
Another form of garlic tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,486, issued in the name of Teng, which includes a pair of interesting pressure units respectively having protruding rows of linearly aligned “grater elements” wherein the grater elements of one row alternate with the grater elements of the second row for what the inventor refers to as a peeling, pressing and grating of unpeeled garlic cloves there between. The rotation of the pressure units of Teng relative to each other will result in a corresponding rotation of the elements of the opposed rows about a center of rotation toward alignment wherein all of the elements of one row are in intimate alternating alignment with the elements of the other row. Such an arrangement would appear to move an engaged garlic clove radially outward from the center of rotation along the rather blunt and wide engaging faces of the elements. This in turn would tend to encourage the major crushing action to occur toward the outer circumference of the grating chamber wherein outward movement of the garlic will be limited by the peripheral wall. As such, it is likely that substantial force would be required to maintain the desired twisting action between the two hand manipulated pressure units. Should, to the contrary, the actual grating in Teng occur along the full length of the rows, the linear arrangement of both sets of elements will result in a rotational period wherein all of the elements are aligned. This simultaneous alignment of all of the elements of each set alternating with the elements of the other set with an engaged clove there between could also tend to produce increased resistance to rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,174, issued in the name of Mansen, discloses a comminuting device adapted for comminuting material and comprising a pair of hand held (fitting within and between the users palms) mating sections forming an enclosed interior chamber with the two second sections capable of movement relative to each other. The first mating section has a first set of a plurality of pins, which extend from a base of the first mating section and into the interior of the chamber. Similarly, the second mating section has a second set of a plurality of pins extending from a base of the second mating section and into the interior of the chamber. The pins from the first mating section interdigitate with the second set of a plurality of pins when the first and second mating sections are mated, wherein movement of the first and second mating sections relative to one another causes comminuting of the material when placed in the chamber. The pins have varying cross-sectional shapes including circular, triangular, and hexagonal.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,422,170, issued in the name of Bao, discloses a leaves and seeds hand grinder having a grinder actuator, a first grinding plate, a second grinding plate and a detachable coupling arrangement. The first grinding plate is detachably coupling with the grinder actuator, wherein the first grinding plate has a plurality of first grinding knifes downwardly and spacedly extended from a bottom side of the first grinding plate. The second grinding plate has a plurality of second grinding knifes upwardly and spacedly extended from the top side of the second grinding plate at a position that the first and second grinding knifes are spacedly disposed within a grinding compartment, such that when the grinder actuator is turned with respect to the grinder base to drive the first grinding plate to rotate, the first and second grinding knifes are correspondingly moved within the grinding compartment to provide a grinding action.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,367,519, issued in the name of de Groote et al., discloses a processing tool for foodstuffs such as garlic and like edibles including a container mounted comminuting unit having-upper-and lower sets of spaced linearly aligned blades selectively presented in an upwardly directed operating position upon an inverting of the unit, the blades of each set having a comminuting profile differing from that of the blades of the other set and are selectively engaged by a set of spaced pusher teeth aligned along a sinusoidal path and mounted on an overlying cap for, upon rotation of the cap relative to the comminuting unit, moving an edible through the comminuting blades for the desired comminuting thereof, the cap including a separate chamber for preparation of the edible before the comminuting process.
U.S. Pat. No. Des 591,554, issued in the name of Ruzycky, discloses an ornamental design for a food grinder having a housing substantially designed to resemble a bulb of garlic.
And, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0204467, published in the name of Livie, discloses a dicing and cutting device very similar to that shown in the '174 reference issued in the name of Mansen in that it comprises hand held configuration in which a male top housing slidably co-operatively engaging with a female bottom housing, wherein the top housing including downwardly projecting top blades, and the bottom housing including upwardly projecting bottom blades, such that food stuffs located with a cavity defined within the housings are sliced and diced upon rotation of the top housing relative the bottom housing.
While each of these references can provide chopping, dicing or comminuting of foodstuffs, none are specifically adapted to be used in conjunction with the infusion of essences released from the comminuted materials into an edible solvent. None of these references allow for the separation of solid foodstuffs to be comminuted within a container that further allows for the direct fluid communication of the liquids and comminuted solids, while still allowing for the controlled segregation of the comminuted solid components. Consequently, a need has been felt for providing an apparatus and method the mincing, grinding, chopping and general comminuting of any type of foodstuffs for the extraction of edible and aromatic oils with the purpose of directly blending or combining the freshly extracted edible and aromatic oils and such with a liquid.